Shadrake sentenced to six weeks in jail

Two months after Yale administrators announced plans to partner with the National University of Singapore in planning a liberal arts college to be located in the island nation, Alan Shadrake, the British author convicted of contempt of court in Singapore on Nov. 3, has been sentenced to a six weeks in jail and a fine equaling approximately $15,380, Bloomberg reported Monday. The conviction was handed down after Shadrake criticized the Singaporean judiciary of making unjust decisions in his book “Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore’s Justice in the Dock,” which was published this summer.

In the Sept. 12 prospectus announcing Yale’s program to the faculty, University President Richard Levin and Provost Peter Salovey expressed concern about Shadrake’s case. Three Yale professors have raised concerns about freedom of expression at Yale’s campus in Singapore, but Salovey said in a Nov. 4 e-mail he remains confident that academic freedom on the proposed campus will not be restricted.